I don’t think this makes me clairvoyant or cuckoo. I think it just means I’m getting old.

More and more, as I drive around, I see what used to be there with more clarity than whatever happens to occupy the space now.

I first noticed this on a major street near the house. As I drove, I realized I was ticking off the landmarks in my mind not by current occupants but by the “used-to-be’s.”

“There’s where the Blockbuster used to be.” (Now a dental clinic.)

“There’s where the Phillips 66 used to be.” (Now a drug paraphernalia shop, alas.)

“There’s where the old Kmart was.” (Now a furniture store.)

“There’s where the Food Lion used to be.” (Now a Garland branch library.)

We probably all have Food Lion “used-to-be’s” in our neighborhoods. Two others near me are now a church and a school administration building.

You would have to go to Tennessee to see the nearest Food Lion that’s still a Food Lion.

Speaking of supermarkets, my wife was trying to find her way to a new one the other day. (Another sign of getting older: driving any distance for a grocery bargain.)

And I heard myself giving her these directions: “Turn left by where Fazio’s used to be, go past where Casa View Baptist Church used to be, then it will be on your left.”

Maybe I should have added: “Or at least it used to be.”

I recently discovered that I’m not alone. I was chatting with Far North Dallas resident Jim Miller. He recently had visitors in town and confessed that he kept showing them things that aren’t there.

“A Kip’s used to sit right there.” “The Cotton Bowling Palace used to be there.” “Mayflower Donut Shop used to be here.”

“They were bored as heck,” Jim said.

I’m afraid I do the same thing to my family when we’re back in my hometown of Tyler. It turns into the great invisible tour.

“The Chuck Wagon sat right over there. Great hamburgers! The Derrick used to be right here. Good fried chicken. But the best was right here — O’Neal’s Ice Cream Shop …”

Pick any street in Tyler and I can tell you what’s not on it anymore.

But there doesn’t seem to be a big call for that service. At least not in my family.

Jim and I agreed in our visit that there’s real pleasure in seeing what used to be there. But he added, “It’s a nice game as long as you don’t have anybody with you.”

One of the things I enjoy about studying local history is that it expands your ability to see things that aren’t there.

My newsroom window looks out over a small park and across to Union Station. That old train station was once as important to Dallas as D/FW International Airport is today. As many as 80 trains a day stopped there, with thousands of passengers coming and going.

I read that the park, Ferris Plaza, was built just to give new arrivals a good first impression as they stepped out the doors of Union Station.

I enjoy looking out my window and seeing the hustle and bustle that used to be.

My route home takes me by the high bluff near Interstate 30 and Dolphin Road. I read that early settlers stood on that bluff and saw huge herds of buffalo in the valley below — along what we know today as White Rock Creek.

I look over and smile. Most people don’t get to see buffalo herds on the way home.

Follow Steve Blow on Twitter at @DMNSteveBlow and on Facebook at facebook.com/DMNSteveBlow.